Do you like Mafia? (A game of social intrigue also marketed as "Werewolf"...)

I'm inviting you to play it here, on the Warlight servers, with this special Game Experiment.

Introducing:

WARLIGHT: MAFIA

I'm inviting you to play in the first-ever Warlight: Mafia game.

There are effectively two teams: the Mafia (a very small team) and the Civilians (most players will be Civilians).

The Mafia is trying to take over and to eliminate all the Civilians. Meanwhile, the Civilians are trying to eliminate all the Mafia members. The Civilians outnumber the Mafia significantly. However, none of them know who the Mafia members are! To a Civilian, any of the other players could be Mafia members, and there's no way to be sure. Be careful! The Mafia will be working together to bring you down.

How do you play? It's simple - you just follow the instructions. Unless you're notified otherwise before the game actually starts, you are a Civilian. Good luck!

If you're curious how it works, read on below. If you're not, you can just join and wait for it to start. That's just as good! Just be sure to follow any instructions you receive by private message *exactly*.

Do not alter the instructions or send out your own private messages until the game begins. If you wish to chat while you're waiting, do it in the public chat.

Start a large game of Warlight with your favourite settings. Make sure the game will not begin automatically. Make sure it is a practice game with automatic distribution. A very "open" map with lots of connections is best. Lighter fog settings are probably better than heavier fog settings.

Decide how many Mafia members there will be. Before playtesting, it is hard to say what the best ratio might be. Settings will affect the optimal ratio, as will the map.

* Roughly 1/4 or 1/5 of the players is a good start - try that first.* Note that heavier fog settings will most likely advantage the Mafia more, and vice-versa.

If you are asked in play to copy and paste a message to another player, be sure to follow the instructions very carefully, and always include the *entirety* of the text you are asked to pass on. Do not add personal comments. "Copy and paste" means to copy the entirety of that particular message and send it by Warlight mail or Private Message to that player.

Beginning the Recruitment of the Mafia:

The host of the game begins by sending the following message ("Message One") to any player of their choice.

Congratulations: you have just been recruited into the the Mafia! Good luck.

It is very important that you follow the instructions described in this message EXACTLY.

Here is a list of other Mafia members:

1. ___________2. ___________3. ___________4. ___________5. ___________6. ___________[etc - up to the desired number of Mafia members in the game - modify this before you start playing]

* Copy and paste this message and send it to any non-Mafia player of your choice. This will recruit them onto your team. Do not send it to a player already on the list above.

However, before you send it:

* Put your own name in the next unoccupied slot in the message (see "The Mafia is Ready" below).

The Mafia is Ready------------------

If you just filled the VERY LAST available slot, the Mafia list is *complete*.

Instead of sending it to someone else, select any player of your choice and send them "Message Three".

(Tip: You should probably also contact the other Mafia members higher up on the list to let them know who else is on their team. Each player will only be aware of Mafia members above them on the list, and you will work best together if everyone knows the full "roster".)

If everyone follows this procedure faithfully, you will have a full contingent of Mafia members hidden among the players of the game. No one (except the Mafia themselves) will know who those players are.

The game continues normally, until one of the following conditions is met:

* When the last non-Mafia player is killed, the Mafia team wins the game! They should announce so in public and Vote to End in celebration.

* When the last Mafia member is killed, he or she should announce publicly that the Mafia has been destroyed. The remaining civilians can Vote to End and celebrate.

During the game, any player may try to convince the others to a) maintain peace between all countries, and/or b) hold a vote to pick one player to eliminate. Any other strategy designed to root out the Mafia and get rid of them is similarly welcome! No one is forced to cooperate with any such strategies, however. Be careful, and be persuasive - if you suggest such a strategy, try not to come off as a possible Mafia member!

Cant you make a simpler process for picking mafia members? Why not just pick 5 random people and send them a message "You are a mafia member, the other mafia members are X,Y, and Z"; meanwhile send all the other players a message "You are a civilian; you dont know who the mafia members are"

"As for random.org: is there a way to use that website to randomly generate Mafia roles *without anyone in the game knowing who they are*? I don't know of one."Go here -> https://www.random.org/lists/One name per line, enter the name of every participant, and click "randomize". The top five names are the mafia members.There's no way any way anyone else can view the results. Of course, that means you must trust your game master, and that the game master cant play.

Well, that's certainly fair! But I enjoyed the design challenge of doing this way, and it's not all that complicated in practice (really, the initial composition of the messages was the only tricky part).